Dawson is the 292nd person to be elected to the Hall of Fame, which includes 203 former Major League players, 35 Negro league players, 26 executives and pioneers, 19 managers, and nine umpires. Henry Chadwick (HOF Class of 1938), who was elected under the pioneer category, is the only Official Scorer among the group of 292. Chadwick is credited with inventing the baseball box score and likely was the first person to ever “score” a professional baseball game.

There is an explanation as to why it appears that Official Scorers have been overlooked. For sixty years (1920-1980) it was the responsibility of the the BBWAA to provide an Official Scorer at every major league baseball game. Since 1980 it has been the responsibility of Major League Baseball itself to appoint Official Scorers for both the American and National Leagues, and in many cases retired BBWAA members have served in that capacity.

To that end, the J.G. Taylor Spink Award has been awarded to baseball writers for their meritorious contributions to the field of baseball writing. Just like the winners of the Ford Frick Award for Broadcasting, the J.G. Taylor Spink Award recipients are not truly “members” of the hall of fame. Their names are inscribed on an exhibit called “Scribes and Mikemen” outside of the main library at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Many of these Spink Award winners have also served as Official Scorers. Below are listed the winners of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award who have definitely served as a major league Official Scorer sometime during their career. The year they won the award is also included in parenthesis.

The list above is likely incomplete. Also, I have not included any Frick Award winners since I am unaware of any broadcasters who have served as an Official Scorer.

In compliling the list above, many thanks go out to:Baseball AlmanacOfficial Scoring in the Big Leagues, written by Bill Shannon (2006), and to Keith Olbermann who assisted Mr. Shannon with some of his research.